With just six weeks left in the regular season, here are 10 more things I like and dislike from across the NBA. This week we highlight ongoing (and mystifying!) Rudy Gobert disrespect, an underrated Celtic and one young guard, Nashing it.
1. Respect Rudy Gobert
Has there ever been a star — a likely future Hall of Famer — who draws more unprompted disrespect from peers than Gobert? The NBA may as well name the final spot in the All-Star draft the Rudy Gobert Memorial Last Pick.
A good chunk of this is Gobert having not shown much ball skill. You can’t throw it to him and ask him to create an artful shot. He’s tall, and awkward, and his rare post-up chances often end in flailing line-drive hooks. He doesn’t shoot jumpers, or facilitate much from the elbows. There’s a reason the Utah Jazz Propaganda Machine pushed the “screen assist” stat: They need some way to quantify Gobert’s (very real) impact on offense. (He is also an elite offensive rebounder, with soft touch on tips and lob redirects.)
Those shortcomings are real, no matter how loudly Jazz Nation shouts “SCREEN ASSISTS!” to drown out debate. They are magnified in the postseason, when elite defenses chip away at Utah’s pick-and-roll brilliance. You need more scoring tools, and “toss the ball to your Hall of Fame center” is not in Utah’s toolbox. Gobert’s usage rate and free throw attempts have typically dropped a tick in the postseason.
But Gobert is freaking awesome. He is a one-man defense — the best rim-protector in modern history. It’s selling Gobert short to call him a “rim” protector. That label implies shot-blocking, and Gobert’s impact goes well beyond blocked shots — even beyond spooking players from shooting in the first place.
Gobert is a paint protector. When he spreads his arms, he obliterates space in every direction. He takes away shots and interior passes at the same time. When panicked ball handlers scan for kickout options, they find them blanketed; Utah’s perimeter defenders stay home, knowing Gobert can patrol the inside by himself.
Very tall people — Gobert included — just look stilted moving at high speeds. That has created the perception that Gobert is not comfortable defending on the perimeter. Four years ago, that might have been true. He improves every year, and has been one of the league’s best one-on-one defenders for two or three seasons now. How many giants could do this — over and over — to Luka Doncic?
Gobert is most at home in the paint. Teams with elite midrange shooters — i.e., Chris Paul — have exploited that in the past. But Utah wants Gobert in the paint. It leans on the math — just as the Bucks do with Brook Lopez — and the math says Gobert should stick to the scheme until it becomes untenable. When and if the situation reaches such a point, he’ll venture out — and be fine. Gobert is never the reason Utah’s defense fails.
Utah is on a 9-1 run, and surprise, surprise, it righted its season as soon as Gobert and Donovan Mitchell returned from injury. The Jazz have mauled opponents by 11 points per possessions with their two stars on the floor.
I’d put Utah’s chances of reaching the Finals below those of the healthy Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors — and maybe the Memphis Grizzlies — but don’t write them off.
2. What is Christian Wood?
Wood leaves you with a different impression every time you watch him. On some nights, he’s a force on offense — raining soft 3s, and slithering past slower defenders. When he’s engaged on defense, he can be a deterrent at the rim with some switchability.
Two nights later, he floats to a listless 15 and 7. As an (almost) full-time center this season, he has developed a case of Porzingis Syndrome: Teams neutralize his pick-and-pop game by sticking speedier forwards on him, and have their centers defend Jae’Sean Tate (which means ignoring Tate, and chilling in the lane.) Defenses also switch more Wood picks.
Around late November and early December, Wood played some of the best defense of his career — rotating to the rim on time, sliding in a stance against guards. Lately, there has been more of this:
Too often, ball handlers have no fear of Wood dropping back. He defends with his arms at his sides, and fails to take away either the drive or the pass. (Most public advanced metrics are not kind to Wood’s defense.) He has issues corralling the ball handler and scurrying back into rebounding position — admittedly a tough series of rotations.
Houston’s guards — including Dennis Schroder above — give Wood no help. He’s often fighting a five-alarm fire before the ball handler even approaches. Communication breakdowns are rampant, and they don’t often appear to be Wood’s fault.
Taken together, Wood’s season leaves you a little cold. Is he another stretch center who can’t defend at center — and whose “stretch” evaporates against switchy defenses?
Houston’s deep rebuild is dragging Wood down, but what does he look like on a team with real stakes? Why has he never played for one? Do those teams trust him?
Wood has All-Star talent. He puts up numbers. His stature just feels weirdly amorphous.
3. Marvin Bagley III’s loooooong jump hooks
Bagley has been decent since the Sacramento Kings (/sad trombone sound) dealt him to the Detroit Pistons, but it might be time to excise this:
Bagley loves this extra-long lefty hook from the left block. It’s a dicey mix of touch and distance, and it doesn’t work nearly well enough for Bagley to lean on it as if it’s his Dream Shake.
Bagley’s teams have scored 0.867 points per chance on his post-ups — 81st among 99 players with at least 25 post touches, per Second Spectrum. He has cut his once-disastrous turnover rate on the block — and his habit of traveling — but that’s mostly because he’s shooting every time.
Bagley has shot on 85% of his post-ups — highest among all players, per Second Spectrum. He has zero assists via post-ups. He rarely draws fouls.
There is a role for Bagley as a stretch center who toggles between rim-running and rampaging drives. (Bagley can play that role in Detroit alongside Kelly Olynyk.) He has longer to go on defense, though I’d like to see how he’d fare in switch-heavy schemes. He has struggled as a rim protector, and at chasing stretchier power forwards.
Detroit got too much flak for giving up Josh Jackson, Trey Lyles, and two second-round picks for Bagley. Yeah, that’s an overpay given Bagley’s track record, and it will sting if one of those second-rounders turns into a starter. But that’s rare. Bagley is only 22. Lyles and Jackson were not in Detroit’s plans.
PS: The Kings’ winning percentage when they fired Luke Walton: .352. Their winning percentage since: .361. I’m going out on a limb, but is it possible coaching isn’t the main issue?
4. Charlotte’s leaky defensive rebounding, and a mini-identity crisis?
The Hornets are 3-11 since Jan. 28, costing them a chance to seize the No. 8 spot as the Brooklyn Nets imploded amid injuries and melodrama. Charlotte would be in danger of falling out of the play-in if any of the East’s bottom five had both interest in and ability to win games.
The Hornets’ main culprit lately is bricky shooting, with one exception: They have fallen apart on the defensive glass. The Hornets profile as a poor rebounding team, but more attention to detail could pull them within spitting distance of league average. As is, they’re 29th in defensive rebounding rate.
Small cracks have cascaded into an avalanche. Charlotte is undersized up front, especially when it plays P.J. Washington at center. Its real centers — Mason Plumlee and Montrezl Harrell — are minus rebounders. Gordon Hayward’s injury has hurt. The Hornets have faced a bundle of offensive rebounding brutes over the last 10 games.
LaMelo Ball might be their best pound-for-pound rebounder, and he’s often far from the rim. Ball and several other Hornets leak out instead of gang rebounding. If Charlotte hides Ball on a bigger wing, more opponents are nudging that guy to crash; P.J. Tucker jackknifed Ball for several offensive boards in one recent game.
Too many Hornets watch and jump instead of boxing out:
Charlotte even resorted to playing Plumlee and Harrell together, only to somehow leak more rebounds.
Harrell fills a nominal need, and he’s one of those high-motor guys who drags you through regular-season games when no one else on either team matches his energy. Still: I have this nagging feeling Charlotte might sacrifice at the altar of size.
Charlotte’s non-center groups have played well. It has enough wings to bust out long, super-switchy lineups with either Washington or even Miles Bridges at center. You might not be able to play 48 or even 24 minutes that way, but it was successful enough to be more than a change-up.
Harrell is a below-average defender. He doesn’t stretch the floor. He’s not the rim-running lob-catcher Charlotte dreams of pairing with Ball.
Charlotte will make some gains playing entire games with a center, but at what cost?
5. Tyrese Haliburton has you on the wrong foot
Haliburton’s signature pass might be his feathery lob, and I already miss his alley-oop connection with Richaun Holmes. Find someone who takes as much joy in your success as Haliburton did in setting up Holmes. Hopefully Haliburton and Isaiah Jackson turn Indianapolis into Lob City Midwest. (Keep an eye on the hoppy Jackson — at least until he fouls himself to the bench.)
But Haliburton is mastering an even trickier pick-and-roll pass — the corner skip. That is the keystone pass for alpha ball handlers — the hardest to execute, and the one that, once established, makes all the others easier. You need vision, timing, accuracy, and (for all but the best little guy passers) the size to see over layers of defense.
Haliburton slings these early, with the key help defender — Markelle Fultz here, guarding Chris Duarte in the right corner — still leaning toward the paint.
Once the defense knows that pass is in play, you get them overthinking: Is he lobbing it again? If I commit to that, will my guy in the corner be open? What about the shooter one slot up?
Indecision is death. Fixate on every option, and you end up guarding none.
Haliburton is ninth in assists, and fourth — behind only Chris Paul, James Harden, and Dejounte Murray — since mid-December.
The next step might be scoring more. Haliburton has one of the highest pass rates out of the pick-and-roll — and lowest shot rates — among high-volume ball handlers, per Second Spectrum. Only 15% of his attempts have come at the rim. He doesn’t get to the line much.
The Pacers with Haliburton, Duarte, Buddy Hield, Malcolm Brogdon, Jackson, and (eventually) Myles Turner have an interesting mix of shooting and IQ.
6. Grant Williams, driving
An underrated ingredient in the Boston Celtic’s defensive juggernaut and their run up the East standings: Williams doing enough on offense to play major minutes as Boston’s younger P.J. Tucker. Williams can guard every position — key to Boston’s switchy scheme.
The goal of switching is to force teams into attacking one-on-one; only Al Horford has defended more isolations than Williams, per Second Spectrum. Teams average a measly 0.684 points when an isolation against Williams leads to a shot or turnover — 10th lowest among 256 players who have guarded at least 50 isolations. Attack him at your peril.
Williams has drained a career-best 44% from deep at higher volume, and his accuracy is no longer confined to the corners; Williams has hit 38% from above the break, and his comfort out there allows him to function more as a screener and playmaker instead of a stationary shooter — adding spice to a Boston offense that thrives when its bigs facilitate.
Williams’ shooting has allowed Boston to keep one true center — Robert Williams III or Horford — on the floor at all times instead of trading size for shooting.
But 3-and-D isn’t enough. Role players need to slice into the lane when defenders run them off the arc, and make the next play. Williams has made major strides there.
He’s decisive, and a good passer. He’s finishing with more oomph:
Williams is shooting 75% at the rim — by far the best mark of his career. Boston has scored 1.155 points per possession when Williams shoots out of a drive, or dishes to a teammate who launches — 24th among 296 players with at least 50 drives, per Second Spectrum.
He can even run an impromptu pick-and-roll:
Williams mashes little guys in the post on switches.
Think about what this means for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown: if every player on the floor — even the alleged “weakest” link — is a threat with the ball, stars have an easier time hunting mismatches. Every teammate is a potential screening partner. (Keep an eye on the Derrick White-Tatum two-man game when teams stash point guards on White.)
7. Tre Mann, Nashing it
Warning: Mann will be one of those players I like more than I should. The cold among you will point to his blah size and wingspan, 42% mark on 2s, and other middling stats — some even bad by rookie standards. I’m blinded by Mann’s change-of-pace guile — something I highlighted in early December.
He has dozens of subtle tricks — hesitation dribbles, shoulder fakes, weird ways of angling his body mid-dribble — to keep defenders off-balance, so they can’t mirror his steps and momentum. He strings them together with predatory intent. He knows what’s coming, but you don’t.
Look at all the goodness Mann squeezes into a few seconds — culminating in the Steve Nash dribble underneath the basket.
Smart pick-and-roll maestros get work done before using the pick. Mann opens with a slow, hanging dribble to his left. He wants De’Aaron Fox leaning that way. He then zips into a left-to-right crossover. For most ball handlers, that’s the move — the dribble that takes them into the pick. Fox seems to assume that.
But that’s precisely what Mann wants. He pivots into a second crossover back to his left, and dusts Fox. He then flummoxes Domantas Sabonis by veering toward the right sideline and turning his back to the paint — almost the “Smitty” fake spin — before accelerating into the Nash move.
The key to The Nash is keeping a live dribble and being alert to all possibilities. Rotating defenses almost always slip up somewhere. Mann has this down. He likes to turn and rise for floaters if the defense gives too much space.
Mann’s smart footwork has made him a step-back-3 menace; he’s 13th in made step-back 3s, and he’s 26-of-67 on them, per Second Spectrum.
Mann hasn’t gotten to orchestrate a ton alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, but he’s been dishing of late with Giddey out; he has 20 dimes in his last 5 games. Mann has the smarts to grow into a secondary playmaker on a good team.
8. Chuma Okeke, thief
Okeke has been wildly up and down with one exception: He’s taking the ball from you. He’s seventh in steals per minute, one of only 13 rotation players snatching at least two per 36 minutes. (Atop that list: the implacable Gary Payton II.)
He’s capable of plucking live dribbles; he picked Luka Doncic at half court in one recent game. He’s a menace in passing lanes.
He’s a multidimensional thief — the guy who can crack the safe and drive the getaway car.
He’s up to 32% from deep after a frigid start, and that catch-and-shoot 3 is the skeleton key to unlocking a pretty creative off-the-bounce game. Over the last six weeks, Okeke has drained 41% on almost six 3-point attempts per game. Since Jan. 15, the Magic have blitzed opponents by 57 points in 102 minutes with the intriguing Okeke-Franz Wagner–Wendell Carter Jr. frontcourt — a look they don’t get to as much as they should. (Carter has had a very solid, under-the-radar season.)
For the season, the Magic are plus-4 per 100 possessions with that trio. Okeke was drafted in 2019, but this is really only his second season after he redshirted his rookie year; he hasn’t even logged 100 games. Wagner is really good. If Okeke can find a consistent stroke, they make for a switchable, high-IQ pairing at the forward spots.
9. The Grizzlies, using all their arms
Only four teams rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency: Phoenix, Miami, Memphis, and (barely) Philadelphia. Memphis sitting at No. 4 in offense is one of the stories of the season, but it remains fearsome at the other end despite Dillon Brooks missing 43 games.
There is nothing all that interesting about the structure of Memphis’ defense other than how it somehow allows tons of above-the-break 3s and very few corner 3s. The Grizzlies force heaps of turnovers without fouling, and protect the glass. Jaren Jackson Jr. has turned into modern Dikembe Mutombo.
They also play super hard. There is zero let-up. They contest every jumper as if they are competing in the long jump, or having their vertical leap measured at the draft combine. My favorite Grizzly technique: They fly at opposing shooters with both arms up.
Taylor Jenkins and his staff have clearly stressed the double-arm close-out Desmond Bane nails there; Memphis players do it too often for it to be a coincidence. Boston through the Brad Stevens era had the quirkiest high-intensity closeouts; Stevens nudged players to jump as high as they could, almost straight up and down, with one arm extended upward.
The Grizz have one-upped that with fire-breathing two-armed leaps. For my money, Brandon Clarke does it best.
10. When players have to rush their signature celebrations
I guess if you have a signature made-3-pointer celebration, you have to do it regardless of circumstance. Most times, it’s safe to play to the crowd; you’re jogging back on defense while the opponent inbounds.
But once in a while, a player realizes mid-gesticulation that duty calls. Perhaps an opposing player is leaking out, or his assignment has relocated far away.
The player has two choices: abort the celebration, or rush it. On Sunday, the Utah Jazz tasked Danuel House Jr. with defending Devin Booker late. Watch House drill this clutch triple from the right corner, and run through his full bow-and-arrow celebration before sprinting to find Booker.
The show must go on. (Is there a difference between House’s faux-archery and Wesley Matthews’ go-to celebration routine? Jamal Murray’s trademark “blue arrow” is tighter, with more compact pop. Who originated this archery theme?)
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